Neo League 465 - #472: Athena vs Maki

Description: OR: Neo League Neophyte. Athena decides to make her Neo League debut in Australia, facing off against the streetwise and wily ninja, Maki. Athena doesn't take it seriously at first, but when Maki shows her mettle in combat, Athena's forced to pull out all the stops! (Winner: Athena)



Welcome to the Sydney Opera House. One of Australia's finest structures and one of their most reknowned landmarks. It's a common place for tourists from all over the world to visit, even when an opera is not in session. There's always a tour going on of the majestic contents inside, meaning that even if it's not opera night, one can still see what they'd expect. But today, there's a different kind of show, and it's outside the Opera House!

The Neo League has chosen this spot to be the location for one of their matches. A large fighting ring has been set up, and comfortable seating has been provided. Concession vendors are selling their wares at reasonable prices (hey, the Neo League founders pay them well, so they can afford it!) A young man in a tuxedo holding a microphone says, "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to today's Neo League match! First, introducing from Metro City, Maki Genryusai!" With that, a round of applause from the audience. Maki is standing in her corner, still warming up, when she hears the applause and turns to wave to her fans with a smile, before resuming her last minute stretches.

Athena, however, is primed and poised. She has to make an entrance. Her fans demand it. Anything less would be... un-Athena.

The air suddenly swells with bright, happy pop music, and the crowd, previously murmuring, breaks into loud, racous cheering as airborne spotlights, hooked up to helicopters, beam down to a random spot on the ground.

The pounding pop-rock rhythm shakes the ground as a short burst of pyrotechnics set up behind the makeshift arena goes off, and the light show begins, creating a swirling, hypnotic effect that shifts through all the colors of the rainbow before settling on Athena's color of choice: pink.

And then comes Athena herself. A pillar of psionic energy suddenly bursts forth from the ground, dissolving into bright sparkles, and revealing Athena: Lovely Psycho Warrior.

Clad in a floor length pink gown, with opera gloves. Her hair long, she keeps her head bowed for a moment. The music dies, and the fireworks stop.

For a moment, all is quiet. And then she raises a microphone. Suddenly, the music erupts once again as her gown erupts into a riot of pink, the psi blasting forth from her frame to replace her frilly dress with a more sleek, modern style The dress shortening until it's at mid thigh, cinched off at the waist with a black cloth belt. Fancy shoes give way to wedge heel sandals and her hair shortens, held back from her face with a hairband, the star on it instantly winking out to her brilliant blue crystal.

"Hello Sydney!" Athena crows brightly. "Who's ready to HAVE SOME FUN!?"

The crowd, predictably, goes wild.

Maki looks to her opponent and smiles a little. "A rather interesting opponent to say the least. I wonder what her fighting style is like," She says to herself as she bows formally to her opponent, awaiting the start of the match.

A moment later, a referee steps into the center of the ring and looks at both fighters to make sure they're ready. Once he's sure they're ready, he signals for the start of the match.

Maki slowly advances on Athena, keeping a close eye on her.

COMBATSYS: Maki has started a fight here.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Maki             0/-------/-------|


COMBATSYS: Maki focuses on her next action.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Maki             0/-------/-------|


COMBATSYS: Athena has joined the fight here.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Athena           0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0             Maki


If Athena is noticing Maki, she doesn't seem to really show it at first. She keeps waving her hands, psyching up the crowd. "C'mon, Australia! I cam all the way to bring some thunder down under, and all I'm getting is this? Where's my fans!?" The cheers grow louder, and Athena's face brightens with a white, perfect smile. "That's it! That's the stuff! C'mon!"

When the crowed is whipped into a frenzy, Athena finally turns around to look at Maki.

"Alright, I have no idea who you are," she says, setting aside the microphone for her head mounted one, "but you better get ready for the /Power of Love/!"

Twirling around once, her hand trails bright sparks through the air, the shimmering afterimage of her hand only highlights the bright pink glow.

Suddenly, she flicks her wrist, blasting a searing blast of energy at Maki. "Psycho Ball!"

COMBATSYS: Athena successfully hits Maki with Psycho Ball.

[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////       ]
Athena           0/-------/-----==|====---\-------\0             Maki


A Psycho Ball? Rather interesting attack. Even more so when you're up close against it, which is what happens when Maki tries to dodge it, but she's off by a few milliseconds. Unfortunately, those milliseconds are all that it takes for the blast to strike her. It hurts, but it's barely enough to faze the blonde haired woman.

"So that's part of your arsenal, huh? Well, let me show you one of mine!" And with that, Maki's propping herself up on the ground using her tonfa, and then spinning around with her leg outstretched at a very fast rate of speed!

COMBATSYS: Athena blocks Maki's Bushin Senpuu Kyaku.

[   \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////        ]
Athena           0/-------/----===|=====--\-------\0             Maki


The attack is swift, but Athena's not just an energy blaster. She's got skills of her own! The Chinese Kenpo she knows isn't just for show, and as Maki shoots in, Athena is already shipping across the ground, feet padding quickly despite her ungaily footwear. Sometimes Psycho Power helps in more ways than you'd expect!

Athena's arm deftly deflects the assault, knocking the limb aside with focused skill and practice. The younger girl shudders under the blow, but her defense is resolute.

"Hup!" She lets out a short cry as she jinks to the side in a sudden motion, flipping with great agility across the ground. The girl goes foot over hand as she sudden;y disappears in a flash of pink light.

"Teleport!"

And bursting out of nowhere is Athena, aiming two kigh kicks at Maki's chest and face in short order!

COMBATSYS: Maki blocks Athena's Renkantai.

[   \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////         ]
Athena           0/-------/----===|======-\-------\0             Maki


Nice move from Athena, Maki thinks to herself, and then the girl vanishes and reappears coming at her trying to kick her in the chest and face. Raising her arms quickly, Maki deflects both of the attacks, giving herself a bit of breathing room while sustaining minimal damage. She doesn't wait for Athena to finish, though, instead bringing her right leg up and delivering a snap kick aimed at Athena's face!

COMBATSYS: Maki successfully hits Athena with Light Kick.

[      \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////         ]
Athena           0/-------/---====|======-\-------\0             Maki


Athena's quick, but not quick enough! The short stopped attack catches the pop star off guard, and her head kicks back. With a small yelp, Athena staggers back, hand on her cheek. That was pretty unpleasant. "Ouch, ouch ouch," she mutters to herself. Silly mistake. That should have been avoided pretty easily.

No time to worry about that now, though.

Athena is already moving away, back flipping all the way to the end of the cordoned off area where she left her microphone. "Alright! Now we're getting a little more interesting!" And with that, she grabs the mic in her hand, and smiles.

Psycho power glows around her hand as she whips the mic at Maki's body, hurling the thing with tremendous force as she tries to knock the wind out of her opponent and sap her strength a little."

COMBATSYS: Maki dodges Athena's Large Thrown Object.

[      \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////         ]
Athena           0/-------/---====|======-\-------\0             Maki


That's OK, they didn't need that microphone anyway. It's pretty durable, and whoever caught it in the background will return it. Namely because it didn't hit Maki, since she jumped to the side and it missed her completely. She watches it go past for a second before returning her focus to her opponent.

"Looks like we're starting to play for real, huh?" Maki says with a smirk, before jumping onto a set of ropes indicating the edge of the ring, and bouncing off of them while flying at Athena with a swift kick!

COMBATSYS: Maki successfully hits Athena with Hassou Kyaku.
Glancing Blow

[       \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////          ]
Athena           0/-------/---====|=======\-------\0             Maki


The kick manages to catch Athena on the shoulder, pushing her to the side. The pop star lets out a yelp as it connects, but it does little more than dirty her dress a little. Nevertheless, Athena's surprised at how swift her opponent seems to be. Oh well. Time to step things up a little!

Her body seems to flare with energy as she leaps up into the air, the pink burst of psionic power wreathing her in a coccoon of powerful mental fire.

"Phoenix..."

She curls up into a ball, body spinning in place as she begins to gain velocity in her revolutions, the flames growing more and more intense.

"Fang...!"

And then she rockets towards Maki, slamming into her. Then she teleports, and repeats the process not once, not twice, but four times. "ARROW!"

COMBATSYS: Maki endures Athena's Phoenix Fang Arrow!

[       \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////                    ]
Athena           0/-------/------=|=======\======-\1             Maki


Seeing that there's no way she's going to be able to get out of the way of that attack, Maki simply does what she does best in situations like this. She braces herself for the impact, and each time Athena hits her, she uses the impact to give herself a bit of momentum. Naturally it hurts more than it should, but in return, Maki's got a bit more going with her.

Although Athena should note she's done a good job of wearing Maki down. She's a bit bloodied now and having some trouble standing up straight. But that's not going to stop Maki from launching into one of her last-ditch effort attacks. She rushes at Athena, attempting to deliver a swift flurry of strikes from her tonfa and kicks!

COMBATSYS: Maki successfully hits Athena with Bushin Gou Rai Ha.

[              \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////                    ]
Athena           0/-------/---====|==-----\-------\0             Maki


And Athena has the slobber knocked right out of her. The rapid assault of kicks and weapon strikes smashes clean into the pop star, bowling her over like a sack of potatoes, sending her rolling across the concrete ground in front of the opera house, and the crowd reacts with a gasp. Maki's fans, on the other hand, cheer the speedy Metro ninja on. There's enough people that dislike Athena enough for that to be heard!

Athena lets out a cough, and flops a bit, rolling onto her back before sitting up. "Oh... man. What in the heck was /that/? Did anyone get the number of that /other/ truck that ran into me?"

But this isn't any time to really babble to herself about getting aced by trucks. There's a fight to be won!

Her body flares into pink energy once more, and she's gone, the psionic lights coalescing by Maki's side as Athena's reality-warping powers come into play once again. "Teleport!"

And as she pulls through the portal she creates for herself, Athena tries to slam a fist into the back of Maki's head.

COMBATSYS: Maki dodges Athena's Medium Punch.

[              \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////                    ]
Athena           0/-------/---====|==-----\-------\0             Maki


Nice effect with the portal, but Maki still manages to move out of the way of the attack, meaning that Athena's fist only hits air, and Maki only feels the 'swoosh' of the attack. As soon as that's noted, Maki attempts to grab Athena by the shoulders and fling her across the ring in a swift motion.

COMBATSYS: Athena endures Maki's Quick Throw.

[                \\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////                    ]
Athena           0/-------/--=====|==-----\-------\0             Maki


Makis's hands grab ahold of Athena, yes, but the magical girl has more than a few tricks up her sleeve. The fast attack catches her, yes, but she's ready for it. She lands on her tush with a bump, but is immediately rolling up again to react even faster than before. "Hup!"

"Alrighty! Fun time's over, but now, I'm afraid I'm going to have to kick your ninja butt!"

Shooting forward at top velocity, Athena's rapid attack just gets faster as she seems to warp forward, using her unnaturally enhanced speed to slam her foot into Maki's stomach.

"Ha!"

COMBATSYS: Athena successfully hits Maki with Light Kick.

[                \\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////                      ]
Athena           0/-------/--=====|====---\-------\0             Maki


Attempting to avoid Athena's kick, Maki ends up getting kicked in the gut. Those sandals really hurt too! Why is it they can't fight barefoot like traditional fighters? That's something to save for another time. For now, it's time for Maki to use a bit of strategy.

Taking a deep breath and focusing it on her tonfa, Maki swings it swiftly at Athena's stomach!

COMBATSYS: Maki successfully hits Athena with Genkou.
- Power hit! -

[                    \\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////                       ]
Athena           0/-------/=======|=====--\-------\0             Maki


Well, this is unfortunate! Athena's siwft moving form is caught dead on, straight in the stomach. Exhaling sharply, the magical girl pop star is bowled over backward. it would seem that luck isn't with her tonight. She's only made a single evasion of the attacks Maki has tossed at her, as opposed to her usual swift style of battle.

But this isn't over yet!

Turning to the audience, she shouts out, "I can't win without your help! C'mon! Lemme hear you say it! Who do you love, Australia?!" Her pained expression is forced off her face as she waves to the fans, trying not to just fall over. What kind of tactic is this?

In the meantime, Athena is glowing brightly...

Maki's not sure what to make of this whole thing, it could be a trap or it could easily be just an effort to provoke her. Whatever it is, though, Maki's not entirely sure she wants to find out directly. Instead, she feels it's time to step back and catch her breath a little, hoping to regain a little more fight.

COMBATSYS: Maki drops her guard to recover.

[                     \\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////                 ]
Athena           0/-------/=======|=====--\-------\0             Maki


COMBATSYS: Athena successfully hits Athena with Healing Aura.

[                 \\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////                 ]
Athena           0/-------/=======|=====--\-------\0             Maki


Athena's psychic aura revitalizes her greatly, infusing her with more strength and vitality, at the cost of some of her energy. The look on her face moves from pained to envigorated as she turns about to face Maki once more. Alright then. Let's see what she can do!

The power in her hands starts to grow, the energy sphere charging up to a massive level. The psionic enegy ball takes on properties of lightning as she rears it back.

"Pretty fast on your feet out there!" She calls, the psycho power moving past her normal psycho ball diameter. "Let's see you avoid this!"

And with a swing, she hurls a slower bu larger blast at Maki, the burst tumbling at her like a small pink sun. "Psycho SHOOT!"

COMBATSYS: Athena successfully hits Maki with Psycho Shoot.

[                  \\\\\\\\\\\\  < >                                ]
Athena           1/-----==/=======|=======\===----\1             Maki


Maki makes the foolish mistake of attempting to dodge something while resting, and she's hit very hard. In fact she's hit so hard, she has to hold onto the ropes for support. But it's obvious her legs are giving out on her. She's not going to stay up much longer. In a last ditch effort, she gives one last swing of the tonfa before heading to the canvas.

COMBATSYS: Maki has reached second wind!

[                  \\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////                       ]
Athena           1/-----==/=======|=======\===----\1             Maki


COMBATSYS: Athena interrupts Medium Strike from Maki with Psycho Sword.

[                     \\\\\\\\\  < >                                ]
Athena           1/---====/=======|>>>>>>>\>>>>>>>\2             Maki


Not this time!

Athena doesn't wait for Maki to finish her attack. The pop star's smaller frame rattles under the blow, but she's not about to let Maki retaliate without any kind of response. Her hand flares into a psychic blade instantly as she charges, a look of determination on her face.

Whipping her hand up, she slashes the powerful psychic swords across Maki's chest, leaping upward to carry herself with the force of the attack.

"PSYCHO SWORD!"

Apparently, a burst of energy came from Maki's last effort, but that was thwarted by Athena's counterattack. It hits the chest as projected, sending her staggering backwards, and this time Maki's definitely down and out for the count... but not before giving Athena a reprise of her Bushin Gou Rai Ha attack from earlier!

COMBATSYS: Maki has reached third wind!

[                     \\\\\\\\\  < >  ///                           ]
Athena           1/---====/=======|====---\-------\0             Maki


COMBATSYS: Athena dodges Maki's Bushin Gou Rai Ha.

[                     \\\\\\\\\  < >  ///                           ]
Athena           1/---====/=======|====---\-------\0             Maki


This time, the onslaught is so clumsy and slow, all Athena has to do is drop down to her haunches, the attacks whizzing over her head easily. It's not, however, staving off the fatigue she feels. The energy is draining from even the chipper and bright Athena, and she can feel her focus draining as the seconds pass.

So she has to land another hit, soon, and fast.

Popping back up, she winks, and grins. "You missed me!"

And then she goes in for a short rabbit punch to the face.

COMBATSYS: Maki fails to interrupt Jab Punch from Athena with Medium Strike.

[                     \\\\\\\\\  < >  /                             ]
Athena           1/---====/=======|=====--\-------\0             Maki


Maki tries to stop the jab from hitting her, but it comes in too quick for her tonfa to stop it. She's hit with the rabbit punch and reels back in pain. She's seeing stars and is very dazed and confused... It's obvious Athena's going to be declared victor very shortly.

And Athena does her best to try to make this as short and sweet as possible.

The girl cherges in yet again, and closes the distance between herself and the speedy ninja with a short hop, skip, and twin kicks to the face, trying to just keep the girl down and out. This has definitely been one heck of a match. She hopes that it actually /hits/ this time, instead of being deflected!

COMBATSYS: Maki blocks Athena's Renkantai.

[                      \\\\\\\\  < >                                ]
Athena           1/--=====/=======|======-\-------\0             Maki


Maki blocks the attack, but in doing so, uses up the last of her strength. She staggers backwards and then falls flat on her stomach. This time, there will be no getting up for her. Athena is the victor.

COMBATSYS: Maki takes no action.

[                      \\\\\\\\  <
Athena           1/--=====/=======|


COMBATSYS: Maki can no longer fight.

[                      \\\\\\\\  <
Athena           1/--=====/=======|


Well. That took some doing. Athena huffs out one breath, and backs away. If that had gone on any longer, she would have collapsed from sheer exhaustion. It would seem that Maki has a lot more to her than she thought. Nevertheless, Athena did win, and she's got fans to attend to. Twurning aroumd, she forces a smile on her face once more.

"Thanks for coming out to support me! I love you all!"

But she's going to love a bath and a nap a heck of a lot more.

Log created on 23:56:33 09/07/2007 by Athena, and last modified on 08:13:42 09/08/2007.